Winds Return at Olympic Qualifier Test

Aarhus, Denmark (August 9, 2017) – Conditions were much improved on the second day of the Hempel Sailing World Championships 2018 Test Event in the Bay of Aarhus with glorious sunshine and a breeze of 13-18 knots, gusting 23.

Racing for 370 sailors from 54 nations across the ten Olympic classes are currently competing in the week-long competition at the Egå Marina, north of the city Aarhus. The event next year is the principal qualifier for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Danish sailors, Jena Hansen and Katja Salskov-Iversen, continue their dominance of the 49erFX Class. “We had ups and downs during the day,” said Salskov-Iversen. “The wind speeds were just right, but the waves were too big and quite hard to sail in. We managed to win two races, however we capsized in the other. Overall, we have learnt a lot today, so we are satisfied.”

In the 49er class, the Australians, William Phillips and Sam Phillips are still first, ahead of Benjamin Bildstein and David Hussl (AUT), who trail by 12 points. The Swedes, Fritiof Hedström and Otto Hamel end the day third.

In the Men’s 470 class, David Bargehr and Lukas Mähr (AUT), also found the day challenging, despite leading, “We had a tough day, it was quite shifty on our race course. We had one good race, we finished second in the first race,” said Mähr. “In the second race, we didn’t have a good start and we ended up at the back of the fleet, it was difficult to catch up.”

France’s, Kevin Peponnet and Jeremie Mion must settle for second, followed by Stuart McNay and Dave Hughes (USA) in third.

In the Women’s division, Linda Fahrni and Maja Siegenthaler (SUI) maintained first position on the second day of compeition. Nadine Boehm and Ann-Christin Goliaß (GER) remain second and the Polish pair, Agnieszka Skrzypulec and Irmina Mrózek-Gliszczy?ska are in third place.

The Men’s Laser, One Person Dinghy, is led by the Australians for the second day of the Test Event. Tom Burton remains first and Matthew Wearn finished the day’s proceedings in second. Third place is held by Thomas Saunders from New Zealand.

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) keeps her overnight lead in the Women’s Laser Radial, followed by the Swede, Josefin Olsson. Maxime Jonker, also from the Netherlands, complete the top three.

In the Foiling Nacra 17, the Italians, Ruggero Tita and Caterina Marianna Banti continue to hold pole position. Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS) are second and third place belongs to Gemma Jones and Jason Saunders (NZL).

It was a close battle between Hungarian, Zsombor Berecz, and Russian, Arkadiy Kistanov, in the Finn class. Berecz claims top spot with 10 points but Kistanov in just one point behind. Nicholas Heiner (NED) follows in third.

Pawel Tarnowski, (POL), the Men’s RS:X Windsurfer, maintained first place on day two. Louis Giard (FRA) is second and Thomas Goyard (FRA) occupies third.

The Women’s RS:X Windsurfer, Lilian de Geus (NED), sits first on the leader-board, followed by Maja Dziarnowska in second and Italian, Marta Maggetti dropped from first to third place.

Racing for 370 sailors from 54 nations in all 10 Olympic Classes extends from Tuesday August 8 and runs through to Sunday August 13 with Medal Races held on the Saturday and Sunday.

About the World Championships
The Sailing World Championships is held every four years and are the largest gathering of Olympic class sailors. The Sailing World Championships are the principal qualification event for the Olympic Games.

Aarhus 2018 is the first and most significant qualification event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, with 40% of the nation quotas places available across the ten Olympic events. Men’s and Women’s Kiteboarding will also be held across the duration of the 2018 World Championships.

Santander, Spain, hosted the 2014 World Championships in September 2014. The 2014 Worlds served as the first Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition qualifier with 50% of Rio 2016 places awarded.

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